The tournament champions of the recently-formed New England Collegiate Conference do not receive an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III men's basketball tournament.

Truth be told, though, the league's first winners - the Blazers of Elms College - are living about as large as an at-large team ever will.

Top-seeded Elms used a 25-9 run late in the first half to blow open a close game on Saturday at Chicopee en route to a 105-76 victory over second-seeded Becker College in the NECC's first title game. It was the 16th straight win for the 26-1 Blazers, who are ranked 12th in the latest D3hoops.com national pool and are expected to be selected for tournament play when the field is announced on Monday.

Dan Gonzalez scored 19 points, and Juan Galdon, named to the all-tournament team, added 18 to lead Elms. Galdon is 36 points shy of the school's all-time leading scoring record of 1,175 points, which was set by Kyle Seyboth in 2005

Aswad Thomas, who was named the tournament's MVP, finished with six points, 15 assists and six steals. Thomas entered the week as Division III's national steals leader.

Elms used 14 offensive rebounds in the opening half to build a 17-3 advantage in second-chance points. The Blazers, who also hit nine 3-pointers, led by as much 53-33 in first 20 minutes before taking a 59-40 bulge to the break.

"Today's game was a lot different for us," Springfield coach Charlie Brock said. "We came in loose with nothing to loose, and we simply made enough good plays during the course of the game.

"You can always make a case for how difficult it is for one team to beat another three times. That was the case today."

SC outscored WPI 40-14 in the paint and had a 28-4 edge in bench scoring. WPI was ahead by nine at one point in the opening half.

SC will play either second-seeded MIT or seventh-seeded Babson in the final.

Amherst 86, Williams 74: Connor Meehan had 26 points to lead five players in double figures as second-seeded Amherst beat third-seeded Williams in the NESCAC semifinals. The Lord Jeffs will play top-seeded and host Middlebury for the title on Sunday.

DIVISION II
St. Anselm 81, AIC 65: Eighth-seeded AIC (15-13) fell at home to ninth-seeded St. Anselm (16-12) in the first round of the Northeast 10 Conference tournament. St. Anselm plays top-seeded Bentley on Monday night.

The Yellow Jackets led 35-28 at the half, but the Hawks scored the first 10 points of the second half and dominated the last 20 minutes.

"I really can't come up with too many words, it's just awesome," Westfield State coach Andrea Bertini said. "Absolutely, our defense was the key to the victory, and our depth was able to wear them down."

Westfield State executed just about all of its fastbreak opportunities, picking up 27 assists on its 31 baskets. "With our team speed, we were able to get out on the fastbreak and make good passes," Bertini said.

Westfield State used a 23-4 run to take a 45-21 lead at the half; Salem never came closer than 19 points after that. The Owls shot 51 percent from the field.

Krista Corriveau, who hit four of her six 3-point attempts, and Lauren Sylvain finished with 14 points apiece. Katie Sylvain added 12.

Westfield State also won the tournament title in 1992. The Owls participated in the NCAA tournament in 1995 and 1996, when Bertini - who grew up in Salem - was one of the team's standouts.

Babson 72, Springfield 60: Corey Finch had 16 points and seven rebounds, but third-seeded Springfield fell to second-seeded Babson in a NEWMAC tourney semifinal at Worcester. Babson (19-8) will play fourth-seeded Wheaton in the title game on Sunday.
Abby Connors and Lauren O'Connor had 11 points apiece for SC, which finished 16-11.

Amherst 49, Tufts 46: Jaci Daigneault had 23 points and seven rebounds to lead Amherst past Tufts (21-4) in the NESCAC semifinals at Brunswick, Maine. The Jeffs (25-1) will take on Bowdoin on Sunday for the title.

DIVISION I
UMass 82, La Salle 66: Freshman Kristina Danella scored 25 points as UMass (12-17, 5-19) beat visiting La Salle (10-19, 1-13) on Senior Day to close out its regular season. The Minutewomen will play on Friday in the opening round of Atlantic 10 Conference tourney.

Danella hit 7 of 10 from the field, including 6 of 8 from behind the 3-point arc, as part of her second double-double of the season. She also had 10 rebounds.

JUNIOR COLLEGE
Roxbury CC 92, STCC 61: Kaylee McIntyre had 14 points, but STCC was eliminated in the National Junior College Region 21 semifinals at Worcester. It was the program's first trip to the regional championships.

Felicia Brodie added 12 points and Shelda Holt 10 for STCC, which finished 10-14. Kim Ewing, who had six points, finished her career as the program all-time leader in 3-point baskets with 124.